Historic Preservation Commission Meeting Minutes October 2005

HPC members present: Bob Booher, Chair, Chris Kirtz, Ed Mroczka, Mimi Styles and David Neumann. David Stopak attended as Town Council liaison. Carol Sanford and George Paine attended as they had plans they wished to discuss with the HPC.

The minutes of August 16, 2005 meeting taken by Chris K. were approved unanimously.

The minutes of September 20, 2005 taken by Bob Booher were modified slightly and adopted as amended. There are a number of printed HPC minutes missing from the HPC binder. David Neumann promised to look into that problem.

Review Session

115 Chestnut Ave. Carol Sanford discussed the plans she has for demolishing her residence at 115 Chestnut Avenue and building a prefabricated home in its stead. The plans presented seemed to show a building that was 22 feet from sill to roof peak. It was a pre-manufactured house with a full basement. We decided that the HPC would review this as two parts: (1) demolition (2) the new construction. Mrs. Sanford said that the cost of renovation of the existing structure would be greater than the sum of the cost of demolishing the old house and the construction of a new one. Members of the HPC asked if the HPC could document the old house. Mrs. Sanford said yes, and we could do it later in the next month or two. The chair asked if the owner would permit some of the house to be moved to a different lot instead of simply being demolished. Mrs. Sanford had no reservations except the cost and probable delay that such a move might cause. Bob Booher agreed to write the review for the HPC as it was a continuation of the effort he started the previous month.

15 The Circle (Bittersweet Cottage) George Paine reported on the progress and success he has had in renovating the fa&ccedil;ade of his house at 15 the Circle. He had discussed this with us in April of 2005. He suggested that we put the documentation into our records. He presented photos from the 1950’s, the 1920’s, one from 1905 of his house. He presented photos of the house as it is now and as it was before he made the changes to the fa&ccedil;ade over the last several months.
Plans for renovating the sections added to the house in the 1970’s were presented. Bob Booher provided comments on the provisional plans. The photos of the cottage over the last 100 years were presented to the HPC. These were placed in a folder to be given to the Town Archivist.

Height of 15 the Circle. We also discussed the question of height. The street side and the Circle side of that and adjacent similar buildings are at very different elevations. The HPC members found that the height is measured from a point at ground level defined by the Zoning Ordinance. On the other hand the point on the roof to which the height is measured does not seem to be defined in the ordinances.

Work Session

The Photograph Project. Chris Kirtz reported on the progress with the photographs of the contributing structures in Town. The photos were ordered and they are underway and will be delivered shortly.

The Questionnaire. Discussed the results of the survey. The number of responses was approximately 40+ out of 230. David Stopak discussed his ideas on tabulating the results of the survey. He has found a general way to tabulate the results. We discussed how to do the tabulation and how to analyze the results. We also discussed the question of whether the survey indicates that people want to deal with the idea of scale. A full discussion was postponed until David Stopak has tabulated the results. Scheduled meeting to tabulate the results: David Stopak and Chris Kirtz will work on the tabulation.

We decided that we would send the Planning Commission a short note on the manner in which we intend to do the tabulation.

HPC Procedures. We adopted an outline of the HPC procedures as drafted by the Chair, Bob Booher. We resolved to discuss sections of the procedures at each meeting and adopt sections of the procedures one or two or three at a time. An outline of the Rules of Procedure was adopted as a guide. It is attached. In addition the Memorandum from the HPC to the PC and the Town Clerk dated June 17, 2003 was placed into the minutes and is attached.

Miscellany. David Stopak the Council Liaison asked us to use his new email address at: dstopak@cismidatlantic.net. The next meeting will be on November 15, 2005 at 7:30 pm.